The True Cause of Postpartum Depression and Fatigue

Comments: 2 | November 15th, 2017

Are you struggling with symptoms such as depression, fatigue, brain fog and weight gain after having a baby? You are not alone. Dr. Hotze explains the reason for your symptoms, and shares how to solve the underlying cause you so can feel like yourself again.

Video Highlights:

 0:50: Now, can hormone imbalances cause problems, postpartum problems, after childbirth? And the answer is “Of course, yes.”

2:06: That placenta also makes copious amounts of hormones so that during a pregnancy, that placenta makes large amounts of a hormone called progesterone, which women make too. But during a pregnancy, the ovaries are shut off and all the hormones are produced by the baby’s placenta.

2:36: By the time a woman gets to the end of a pregnancy, she’s making enormously high levels of progesterone, more than she’s ever made by her ovaries all her life.

3:04: The ovaries have to turn back on and start making the hormones, and that’s where the rub comes. Often times, the ovaries don’t produce adequate amounts of hormones after childbirth. And so a woman begins to feel fatigued, gain weight, moods are depressed. Progesterone’s a great mood elevator. And when she loses progesterone, the moods go down. This adversely affects too her thyroid hormone utilization, which helps her produce energy.

6:00: So if you or any of your friends or family members have experienced problems after pregnancy and have simply been put on psychiatric drugs, that’s not the solution to the problem. That will never get them feeling well. You have to replenish and balance their naturally occurring hormones.

Video Transcript:

Hello, I’m Dr. Steven Hotze. I’m the founder and CEO of Hotze Health & Wellness Center in Houston, Texas. My goal is to help you obtain and maintain health and wellness naturally so you enjoy a better quality of life. Frequently, I’m asked by women “Can the problems I have after childbirth be related to my hormones? Problems like postpartum depression and fatigue?” And I’m going to give you the answer to that in just a minute. But first, I want to invite you to subscribe to my YouTube channel, as well as to my follow me on Facebook @HotzeHealth.

Now, can hormone imbalances cause problems, postpartum problems, after childbirth? And the answer is “Of course, yes.” But you know, so many women have asked their doctor this and they’ve said “No, you just need an antidepressant.” And how many women have I seen here at the Hotze Health & Wellness Center that after their first, second, or third child, develop postpartum depression and were put on antidepressants? Scores. Why does that happen? What do you think causes a woman to fall into depression, to have problems with fatigue, inability to think clearly, can’t sleep, joint, muscle aches and pains, weight gain, after she has a child? You think it could be your hormones? It can and it is your hormones.

What happens to your hormones during pregnancy

Let me explain. When a woman becomes pregnant that little baby makes a placenta that sticks to the lining of the uterus. And that draws the nutrients and the blood and is able to feed the baby through the umbilical cord so the baby grows and develops. That placenta belongs to the baby. That placenta also makes copious amounts of hormones so that during a pregnancy, that placenta makes large amounts of a hormone called progesterone, which women make too. But during a pregnancy, the ovaries are shut off and all the hormones are produced by the baby’s placenta. Progesterone stands for promoting gestation – promoting pregnancy. So you can see why a baby’s placenta is producing high levels of progesterone, promoting the pregnancy.

By the time a woman gets to the end of a pregnancy, she’s making enormously high levels of progesterone, more than she’s ever made by her ovaries all her life. When the baby’s delivered, shortly thereafter, the placenta’s delivered. Well guess what? That lady’s hormones, her hormones are in an off switch. They’ve been turned off. She’s been relying on the baby’s placenta to produce all the hormones for her. Now she doesn’t have any. And the light switch has to turn back on, so to speak.

The ovaries have to turn back on and start making the hormones, and that’s where the rub comes. Often times, the ovaries don’t produce adequate amounts of hormones after childbirth. And so a woman begins to feel fatigued, gain weight, moods are depressed. Progesterone’s a great mood elevator. And when she loses progesterone, the moods go down. This adversely affects too her thyroid hormone utilization, which helps her produce energy.

So she’s low in thyroid and she’s low in progesterone. And she has all these symptoms. And the doctor’s solution is fairly standard. “You just need an antidepressant – Prozac,Paxil, Fluoxetine, Lexapro – you name it.” And they put them on the antidepressants.

Symptoms of Hormone Decline After Childbirth

Well, I can tell you, there was a young girl, young woman, who after her first child when she lived in St. Louis. She had postpartum depression and fatigue and she couldn’t get out of bed. She couldn’t’ nurse her baby. She felt terrible. Her husband was in school there at the time in the seminary and they happened to be good friends with my daughter and son-in-law, who was also in the seminary in St. Louis. And my daughter said to her “Kim, you need to go see my daddy in Houston.”

And so this young seminarian and his wife flew down to see me. And she told me about her problems and she had postpartum depression and she had just been bedridden for the last two years. She had lost all her romantic moods and inclinations. She couldn’t think clearly. She had panic attacks. She ached all over. And she just had no feelings because of the antidepressants she was on. Her husband took me aside with such a concerned look. Here’s a new couple with their first new baby and he goes “Doctor, I don’t know what you can do about her. What you can do to help her?” He’s thinking this is the start of their married life. What’s it going to be like five or ten years from now. How is she going to feel? How is she going to be able to take care of the kids? How is he going to be able to graduate from seminary and go on to do a pastory? How’s he going to do that with a sick wife?

Natural Solution: Restore the Missing Hormones

Well, it was very obvious what her problem was. She had low levels of progesterone. She had the signs and symptoms of low thyroid. So what did we do? Real simple. We filled her bucket back up, so to speak. Her bucket of hormones. She’s running at a very low level. She’s got a low level of hormone, so we replenished her with natural progesterone and natural desiccated thyroid hormone.

Guess what? This is 10 years later. He was an associate pastor at a church here in Houston, which I attended. And he subsequently went on to become a pastor of a church in Nashville, Tennessee. They have three kids now. Kim is doing marvelous. Looks great. Feels great. And she says she thanks God that I was able to show her a pathway so that she could get her life back, and she did.

So if you or any of your friends or family members have experienced problems after pregnancy and have simply been put on psychiatric drugs, that’s not the solution to the problem. That will never get them feeling well. You have to replenish and balance their naturally occurring hormones.

That can be done easily. My goal for you is to help you obtain and maintain health and wellness naturally, so you enjoy a better quality of life. I want to remind you that you’re invited to join my YouTube channel and also to follow me on Facebook. I’m Dr. Steve Hotze. I look forward to seeing you next time.

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